Post by Alex Jones on Apr 30, 2009 17:48:22 GMT -6
Pain
In 1996 Peter Tagtgren mastermind behind death metal group Hypocrisy needed another outlet for his musical genious. With pages and pages on music too different to be put under the "Hypocrisy" banner. What followed is a mix of metal, industrial and goth rock mixed to perfection with a dark sense of humor. While Hypocrisy is a vehicle for Peter to get out his Apocalypse and Sci -Fi themes Pain is a band he uses to get out personal messages and more profound subject matter....
Pain-Psalms of extinction
Released-April 18 2007
If you're familer with Peter Tagtgrens other work Pain comes as a pleasant surprise, a mix of Rammstein style riffs, marilyn Manson esq industrial themes and a unique blend of Peters own making. The album opens with "Save your prayers", a melodic masterpiece that draws you in within the first few seconds, a straight up riff turns into a wall of sound then seems to back off just enough to change the dynamic of the sound completly, one of the first things you'll notice is that Peter can sing.....really ****ing well. He's mainly known for screaming and growling, but here he mixes it up and while his tradmark screams are there they're used sp[aringly intertwining with his shockingly melodic singing...
The trent continues with two stomping anthems, first "Nailed to the ground", a singalong screw uyou type song with a guitar part that sounds very similar to KMFDM's "juke joint jezabel". Beleive me, after the second or third listen of this song you'll be singing the chorus. The song could even be on dance floors it has a steady thumping beat. The second of these anthems is "Zombie Slam", slightly faster and harder with Peter bringing in his awesome clean vocals mixing them with a deeper almost Rammstein like clean vocal.
Aside from awesome stomping industrial metal anthems he also seems to excel with slower moody almost goth songs. "Play Dead" and "Just think again" are two prime examples. A slower beat and Peters vocals becoming part of the song in a different way mixing with the synthesised sounds in the background to make a dreamy landscape of noise. But by far the best song on the album is the more metallic "Walking on glass" another stomping epic with an awesome beat, great riff and an almost military like drum sound......
Album score-9/10
Best songs-Nailed to the ground, Play dead, Walking on glass, Bitch
Pain-Cynic Paradise
Released-October 31 2008
The follow up to the above album brings in more of the same, but honestly that's not a bad thing. Openner "I'm going in" starts off with an angelic choir singing before a synthesiser and a fast almost thrash like guitar riff takes over, then in contrast to the last album Peter lets his black metal like screams rip first off. Almost as if he was trying to make Pain harder, one of the stand out tracks on this album shas to be his cathy duet with Anette Olzon of nightwish "Follow me", a great song with intertwining vocals that shows Peter can hold his own with one of the most dynamic female voices in metal, this song also has a version with just Peter singing on the special edition(which I have)
But just when you think you have ol Pete figured out he'll pull out something that makes you go "WTF". It happened thias time in the form of "Have a drink on me" a country and western industrial metal drinking song....yes read that again......It's not unthinkable to be knocking down shots of southern comfort while singing along and half banging your head to this track...****ing great!. But just as soon as the song comes it's gone and straight back to busines, this time with more crushing guitars in the shape of the song "Don't Care", a scathing song about people who don't work for a living and coast through life. One of the spounds that follows is the eerie "No one knows", with a slow build up it sounds like it was ripped right off Marilyn Mansons "anti christ superstar" then remixed and made better....
This album is a great follow up to "Psalms of extinction" a great masterpiece and an addition to the legacy of a man who is a metal genious.
Rating 9/10
Best Tracks-I'm going in, Follow me, Have a drink on me, No one knows, Feed Us